Author's Note: Hey, lookie, it's my first fan fic on here! It's a Zim + Tak, the only kind of IZ romance that I go crazy over. 8D lol. Anyway, I know it is a bit cliche and probably kind of stupid. But this ZATR fic is the only one I've written that's finished right now, so I figured I'd upload it. Please don't flame me yet, I'm new. X.x Enjoy in all theretarded ZATR-ness. :)


At school that fateful Tuesday noon, the bell before lunch rang, allowing seven minutes to get to the cafeteria before the bell rang again -- just enough time for Zim to stall around, perspire profusely, and then, in the remaining sixty seconds before the lunch bell officially rang to finally go up to and ask his love to go on a date with him. There Zim stood, leaning against his locker (just like the guys do in all those cliche high school romance movies), trying not to stare at her. Down the hall, there she was, in the middle of her circle of friends, standing and chatting and laughing, fully unaware of Zim's being alive and whatnot.

That was quite typical for Zim; the poor guy just didn't have a romantic bone in his teenage Irken body (well, except when it came to her), and with a face cluttered with a horrible case of acne, he wasn't the most attractive dude in school. So most of the time, Zim simply didn't stand a chance with girls. However, she was different. Her name brought giddiness to Zim when he whispered it to himself: Tak. The simple thought of her charm uploaded desires in Zim to be a real gentleman; for Tak, Zim wanted nothing more on Irk than to bring her three dozen roses and six-hundred boxes of chocolate and for her to have everything. Zim's raving, unceasing passion for Tak, however, was sadly unrequieted.

Zim had already wasted three minutes. All he had to do was walk up to her and ask if she wanted to go to the movies. That was all, it wasn't brainworm-ectomy or anything hard like that. So why the hell was it so hard for him? God, he thought, slipping into even more uneccessary procrastination, she's the most gorgeous Irken my eyes have ever witnessed... Tak was indeed a knockout. She was "one hot goth," as Tak's previous boyfriend, DeGeneres, said on his online blog when they had first gotten together.

Zim had only two minutes left.

"Just do it, damn it," he murmured loudly to himself, pushing himself up from the lockers and over to the group of girls.

Zim was in a blurred cloud of confusion as he neared them. What the hell would he say? What should he say? Zim wanted to punch himself in the face just then, but he strode on. Hopefully his incredible intellect and smooth talking would score him the perfect gothic chick, Tak.

As Zim got closer, Tak stared at him like he was a complete dumbass. He stopped and stood closer to her as the group around them started clearing out. When only she and Zim were left, he began.

"Um, hi, I guess?" Zim started sheepishly, trying to sound manly.

Tak looked at him easilier, her stare was now a gaze. "Hey," she replied cooly. Zim almost fell over: Tak was talking straight to him!

"Uh, well, you know my name's Zim, right?" -- Tak nodded impatiently -- "Yeah, um...er, I, I've been wondering if, um..."

Tak looked a little harder now, her searching violet eyes slanting a tad.

"Um, do you like popcorn?" That was all Zim could force out.

There was a pause. A tension-filled pause, in which all Zim could do was listen to his heart pounding with hope.

"Look," Tak began, "The lunch bell is going to ring in a second, and I'm really hungry, so..." She started to walk away. A huge alarm went off in Zim's mind, and he dashed after her.

"Wait! I really need to ask you something," Zim blurted out as quickly as he could. He could not lose her.

"Well, what is it, then?" Tak whined a bit. Zim found all her words confusing, like she couldn't stick to one personality. He brushed it off and went on.

"Um..."

"Okay. What is it that you really want to ask me? Because I'm listening. All you have to do is just be yourself and ask, okay?" Tak reached out and tapped quickly his shoulder. She even sort of smirked at him.

Zim smiled back. He replied, slowly, "Tak, would you please go to the movies with me sometime?"

Tak's eyes glimmered. "Sure, Zim. I'll go with you."

Their eyes met at once. They both were feeling oe another's same joy. Just then, the lunch bell rang.

"Oh, shit! I have to go, call me!" Tak rushed away after handing Zim a paper with her phone number written on it, which she somehow magically got out and wrote in the short amount of the time they talked.

Tak ran down to the cafeteria. After she was out of sight, Zim continued to look on in un-Zimmy-like googly-eyed-ness and smiled.

"I AM ZIM!" he screeched as all the teachers ran out of their classrooms and stared at him strangely.

The End (XP)